JD Faces UK Expansion Roadblock As Sainsbury Ends Talks For Argos Chain Takeover

British supermarket group Sainsbury's said on Sunday it has terminated talks regarding a takeover of its Argos by Chinese e-tailer JD, only a day after confirming the discussions.

The development is a dampener of JD's expansion in Europe, which has gained steam in recent years. The company is pushing to grow its Ochama omnichannel retail brand and, earlier this year, rebranded it to Joybuy.

JD also explored the acquisition of the UK big box retailer, Currys, before dropping the plan; in July 2025, it signed a $2.5-billion deal to buy Germany's Ceconomy, which operates electronics chains MediaMarkt and Saturn.

In July, JD founder Richard Liu vowed to accelerate the company's international expansion and double down on new areas, such as food delivery and travel booking, promising a turnaround of the conglomerate he thinks has lagged in recent years.

JD's Hong Kong-listed shares were up 1.2% in trading on Monday morning local time. However, on Stocktwits, the retail sentiment for the company's U.S.-listed shares dropped a few notches in the 'extremely bullish' zone from the day prior.

Argos, which Sainsbury's bought in 2016 for 1.1 billion pounds (about $1.4 billion), is Britain's second-largest general merchandise retailer, with the third most-visited retail website in the country. Sainsbury's is the second-largest supermarket chain in the UK, trailing Tesco.

The Nasdaq-listed JD's shares are down 1.7% year-to-date, compared to the 40% rise in KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB), which tracks Chinese tech stocks.

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